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**radikal** · 07-01-2012, 07:58 PM

Dr. Anandi Ramakrishnan posted the following on 30th June 2011, exactly a year ago.

Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter... feeling proud to share it with you all.....!!!!

Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our ownstrengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazingsuccess stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribalvillage into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.. There are millions of suchachievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israelinewspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deathshad taken place. The Hamashad struck. But the front page of the newspaper hadthe picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desertinto an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone wokeup to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in thenewspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism,crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation soobsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. Wewant foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad givingthis lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked herwhat her goal in life is.. She replied: I want to live in a developed India .For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim.India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
..
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up thegarbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are ajoke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach theirdestination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and isthe absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say.. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name -'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are atyour International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on theroads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as theyare.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalentofMahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to theparking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in arestaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… InSingapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in publicduring Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your headcovered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephoneexchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs..650) a month to, 'see to it that my STDand ISD calls are billed to someone else. 'YOU would not dare to speed beyond55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai mainkaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so on. Take your two bucks andget lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than thegarbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Whydon't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We arestill talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and confirm to a foreignsystem in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers andcigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be aninvolved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be thesame here in India ?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pethas done the job. Same in Japan ..

Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We goto the polls to choose a government and after that forget all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect thegovernment to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chuckinggarbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray pieceof paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide cleanbathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the bestof food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the leastopportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to passon the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those relatedto women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing roomprotestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's thewhole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons'rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for usit consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, othercommunities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes tous actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselvesalong with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance atcountries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miraclesfor us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to Americato bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecurewe run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the nextflight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescuedand brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rapethe country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgagedto money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive,calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too….. I amechoing J. F. Kennedy's words too his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Thank you,
Dr.. Abdul Kalam

07-01-2012, 07:58 PM	#2
radikal Join Date Oct 2005 Age 54 Posts 4,523 Senior Member	Dr. Anandi Ramakrishnan posted the following on 30th June 2011, exactly a year ago. Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter... feeling proud to share it with you all.....!!!! Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our ownstrengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazingsuccess stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribalvillage into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.. There are millions of suchachievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israelinewspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deathshad taken place. The Hamashad struck. But the front page of the newspaper hadthe picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desertinto an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone wokeup to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in thenewspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism,crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation soobsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. Wewant foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad givingthis lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked herwhat her goal in life is.. She replied: I want to live in a developed India .For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim.India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. .. YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up thegarbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are ajoke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach theirdestination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and isthe absolute pits. YOU say, say and say.. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name -'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are atyour International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on theroads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as theyare.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalentofMahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to theparking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in arestaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… InSingapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in publicduring Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your headcovered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephoneexchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs..650) a month to, 'see to it that my STDand ISD calls are billed to someone else. 'YOU would not dare to speed beyond55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai mainkaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so on. Take your two bucks andget lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than thegarbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Whydon't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We arestill talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and confirm to a foreignsystem in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers andcigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be aninvolved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be thesame here in India ? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pethas done the job. Same in Japan .. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We goto the polls to choose a government and after that forget all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect thegovernment to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative.We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chuckinggarbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray pieceof paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide cleanbathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the bestof food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the leastopportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to passon the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those relatedto women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing roomprotestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's thewhole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons'rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for usit consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, othercommunities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes tous actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselvesalong with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance atcountries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miraclesfor us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to Americato bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecurewe run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the nextflight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescuedand brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rapethe country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgagedto money. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive,calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too….. I amechoing J. F. Kennedy's words too his fellow Americans to relate to Indians….. 'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY' Lets do what India needs from us. Thank you, Dr.. Abdul Kalam
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